[QUOTE=chalsall;432777][URL="http://spacenews.com/nasa-cuts-funds-for-mars-landing-technology-work/"]NASA cuts funds for Mars landing technology work[/URL]



Hmmm...[/QUOTE]
Next time Nasa will know better than to try to spend money outside of Alabama.

Here's an excellent summary: [url]https://i.imgur.com/k536rQM.png[/url]

TRAPPIST are not only monk but [URL="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/05/03/three_earth_sized_exoplanets_found_around_nearby_red_dwarf_star.html"]exoplanet[/URL]

[url]http://www.spacex.com/webcast[/url]
about 11 minutes until liftoff

update:
Stage 1 successfully landed on drone ship. This is the first success for stage one when coming in hot from a geosynchronous transfer orbit launch. On the drone ship it definitely looked hotter with flames still present after landing.

The rest of the mission so far seems to be proceeding nominally.

[QUOTE=only_human;433192]Stage 1 successfully landed on drone ship. This is the first success for stage one when coming in hot from a geosynchronous transfer orbit launch. On the drone ship it definitely looked hotter with flames still present after landing.[/QUOTE]And it seems that the first stage is also closer to center than last time.
:clap::faf:

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;433198]And it seems that the first stage is also closer to center than last time.[/QUOTE]

It was accurate last time, just a bit windier.


The ups and down are palpable: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bMeDj76ig&t=37m35s[/url]

[QUOTE=Dubslow;433204]It was accurate last time, just a bit windier.


The ups and down are palpable: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bMeDj76ig&t=37m35s[/url][/QUOTE]

That timestamp is now useless, they cut some earlier footage from before the launch. New link: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bMeDj76ig&t=28m35s[/url]

[In my defense, the thread is about space missions after all]

Saturday nite [i]pienso borracho[/i] (or whatever the Spanish for 'drunken musing' is) ... Watching an old episode of [i]Lost In Space[/i] on MeTV right now ("Target: Earth", S3 ep16), in which the aliens du jour look like, well, human-sized piles of :poop: with imperial-conquest tendencies.

Q: Why are the Poop People so unpopular all around the galaxy?

A: Because nobody likes someone who makes a habit of speaking in the 'turd person.'

Ha, ha, ha, a million laughs... (we left-coast-to-asia-pacific-time-zone folks have to make our own fun around here this time of night.)

Looks like OCISLY will arrive back to port in the morning on Monday. It might still be dark.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;433345]Looks like OCISLY will arrive back to port in the morning on Monday. It might still be dark.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/4ihp1p/f9024_recovery_thread/"]Tracking thread.[/URL]

SpaceX has released HD video of the landing from various cameras on the barge.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHqLz9ni0Bo[/url]

As this was a GTO mission (as opposed to the CRS-8 LEO launch), the landing was substantially higher energy; double the velocity, quadruple the energy, and 8x the drag heating. The boostback burn was skipped entirely, and the landing burn used 3 engines (line formation) rather than the one used on both prior successes (though 2 of the 3 shut off before the center engine does as it throttles down in the last few seconds).

A redditor timed the light -> sound gap from the first angle, and a gap of 3.03 seconds indicates that the landing burn started at roughly 1km altitude (3K feet).